Max, kind of ironic how all your safety equipment made you more vulnerable in what sounds like fairly trecherous working conditions. Made me start wondering what else was in that murky water you were splashing around in!

Yes, a beautiful and expensive HP bit error ratio tester was connected to my breadboard as I was disconnecting the bench power supplies. A stray wire (the breadboard +5V) found its way into the hot slot of the large AC power bar running along the back of my bench. I don't think I need to elaborate on what happened to the BERT, let alone the breadboard.

@AlPotHoof: I'm guessing you hadn't yet learned about tying two power cords together with an overhand knot before plugging them together...

You guess correctly :-)

I actually loved the glass factory -- when we got there they had drained the furnace and it had been cooling down for a while -- a day or so after we arrived they smashed a hole in -- we took turns walking inside for just a minute until the heat got too great (with a wet towel wrapped round our head/face) -- really surreal ...

So....what happened to that 100 feet or so of power cable the sillyscope was plugged in to? It should have led you right to the scope. (I'm guessing you hadn't yet learned about tying two power cords together with an overhand knot before plugging them together and the scope came unplugged, leaving the extension cord dangling from the gantry).

I also worked in a glass plant for a couple years; not a bad place to be on a cold winter's day.

At least you only lost an oscilloscope. I was sail boating in a lake with a few guys from work one evening. There was no wind. We sat there and waited. Then the wind picked up, we immedately headed for the side to counterbalance the boat and keep it upright. We were all leaning over hte side.

Then, like a switch turning off, the wind stopped.

I fell back first into the lake. While still under water, I knw the the mast was following me. I stayed under for a momet so as not to get hit on the head. The mast and sail hit the water, and I swam around it to the surface.

I couldn't see a thing, for my glasses had come off and went to the bottom. There's no way I can make the drive home. Ond of my co-workers and to drive me home with the other one following to take him away. At lesst i had a old pair of glasses that I could use until new ones arrived.

In conjunction with unveiling of EE Times’ Silicon 60 list, journalist & Silicon 60 researcher Peter Clarke hosts a conversation on startups in the electronics industry. One of Silicon Valley's great contributions to the world has been the demonstration of how the application of entrepreneurship and venture capital to electronics and semiconductor hardware can create wealth with developments in semiconductors, displays, design automation, MEMS and across the breadth of hardware developments. But in recent years concerns have been raised that traditional venture capital has turned its back on hardware-related startups in favor of software and Internet applications and services. Panelists from incubators join Peter Clarke in debate.